The Pentagon Finally Admits It Has an Extremism Problem in the Ranks. But Fixing It Won’t Be Easy.
Defense Department Press Secretary John Kirby briefs reporters at the Pentagon.Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.Extremism in the military is not a new problem, but the involvement of at least two-dozen veterans and…
Biden Reverses Trump’s Transgender Military Ban
Jabin Botsford/Washington Post/Getty Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.More than three years after Donald Trump tweeted into existence a ban against transgender service members, his successor has reversed it. On Monday morning, President Biden repealed the…
Trump’s State Department Had a “Humiliating” Lack of Diversity. Can Joe Biden Fix It?
Mother Jones illustration; Wikimedia CommonsOn Friday October 23, the State Department quietly decided to halt all “training programs related to diversity and inclusion.” For department employees, it was a fitting bookend to a presidential administration that has been hostile to the idea of diversity and uninterested in challenging the stereotype of US diplomats as “pale, male, and…
With His Pardons of Stone and Manafort, Trump Completes His Cover-Up
Donald Trump and Paul Manafort at the 2016 Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016. Bill Clark/Congressional Quarterly/Newscom via ZUMA Press Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.By pardoning Paul Manafort and Roger Stone on Wednesday night,…
Biden’s Pentagon Pick Has Deep Defense Industry Ties. Now It Could Complicate His Nomination.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.Joe Biden, in defending his decision to nominate retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin as his Defense secretary pick on Tuesday, cited Austin’s “intimate knowledge of the Department of Defense…
After Trump Loosened the Rules of Engagement, Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan Rose by 95 Percent
Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.More than three years ago, President Donald Trump announced that he would “lift restrictions and expand authorities” for United States troops in Afghanistan—giving the military a freer hand to…